Day 5-6: Compost

First off, I'm really excited and thankful about how this garden has been a way for all these people to jump in and support me in it. I've been given everything that I've used, planted, worked with, etc. It's been really encouraging to have everyone pitching in what they have. Thanks everyone.

Compost has stolen my heart so far. I can't believe that I didn't even know what it was or that it was possible until a couple months ago. I will briefly explain composting for all the people who don't know what it is. It's normally done in some sort of covered container, inside of which you put different layers of green organic material, brown dead organic material, newspaper, food scraps, (pretty much anything that was once alive and hasn't been cooked) etc. You maintain it by keeping it wet, and by turning it over every once and awhile. The whole time it's sitting, it's actually got bacteria inside that are slowly eating away at the materials and turning it into a fresh nutrient rich soil like mixture. Then when you have enough of that you can take it and mix it back into your soil in the garden.

My love for compost isn't completely based on it's physical job, but more on it's similarities for my life, and what I want my life to be for myself and others. My journey over the last few years has been aimed personally at being "real" in my life and my relationship with God, but the only way to do that is to take all the "death" that has happened, or been apart of my life and others I care about, and bring it to God to walk me through it and give real answers and healing to those situations and wounds I have. As I've done this I've grown a love and longing for Truth to be what dictates my life and decisions. It's been amazing and has been a source of true healing, strengthened and reconciled relationships, and begun to open my eyes to what real "Life" is. But it requires some very hard yards in dealing with death. And I see all that in composting, where you take all the death from the garden and the kitchen, and focus it in one place, and then wait as the bacteria (God) slowly works its way through the death and turns it into the best soil mixture you could ever want.

I want my life to be composting as I go and get it with tragedies, wounds, sickness, etc. And I want to be able to help others compost their garden's death and waste. This is the first time I've found a clear example of what's been on my heart for the last year or so, and I'm sure I'll be talking more about it for many more years to come.